Google Page Experience testing update
As of April 2023, Google is changing the way they evaluate Page Experience. Essentially, Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS and no intrusive interstitials are no longer considered to be part of a Page Experience ranking system. While mobile-friendliness, HTTPS and no intrusive interstitials will remain as weighted signals, Core Web Vitals has been reduced to a consideration. As such, please disregard the below information as it was created prior to April 2023.
On June 15, 2021, the Google page experience update went live. This Google algorithm update combined existing mobile-friendly, HTTPS and interstitials search result ranking signals with core web vitals. Which, represents a set of new user experience measurements.
Google Page Experience Testing
A given page does not have to pass all measurements in order to receive search result signal weight. For example, if a page or post passes mobile-friendliness, HTTPS and interstitials but not core web vitals it will receive partial signal weight. The same holds for core web vitals. If a given page or post only passes LCP but not FID and CLS, it will receive signal weight for passing the LCP measurement.
4 ways to test Google Page Experience
In order to receive search result ranking signal weight individual web pages need to pass Google page experience testing. Use the below tools to test web pages and websites for core web vitals, mobile-friendly, HTTPS and interstitials.
- Google Page Experience Report – Accessible from Google Search Console, this report combines existing core web vitals with other page experience signals, such as HTTPS security, interstitials, safe browsing status and mobile-friendliness.
Tests: ALL page experience ranking signals - Google PageSpeed Insights – Google’s own tool for testing single web page core web vitals. Pages need to score “good” in field data for all 3 web vitals to be eligible for signal weight.
Tests: Core web vitals only - Web Vitals Chrome Extension – A Chrome web browser extension that measures core web vitals and provides instant feedback on loading, interactivity and layout shift metrics for the current page in your browser. This extension is consistent with how core web vitals metrics are measured by Chrome and reported to other Google tools.
Tests: Core web vitals only - Experte Core Web Vitals Check – This website is essential for identifying problem pages by crawling and testing core web vitals for up to 500 pages at once.
Tests: Core web vitals only
Note that #2 – the Google Page Experience Report from Google Search Console is the ONLY tool that tests ALL page experience ranking signals. If you plan on using any of the other tools that only test core web vitals (which is reasonable considering most websites already pass mobile-friendly, HTTPS and interstitials testing), you can also use other tools like Google Mobile-Friendly Test and Qualys SSL Server Test.
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We’re an SEO consultancy that has provided consulting and service to organizations throughout the US since 2009. If you need assistance testing for the Google page experience update and core web vitals you know where to find us!